Series 5, Jackie and Joan…

Well, what with all the kerfuffle in the press about series 5, Jackie and Joan Collins, I thought I should probably write a little blog to keep you up to date.  So, basically, yes, I said series 4 would be “the end of my Benidorm journey” (how camp??!) but that was well before the end of series 4 transmission (in fact it may have been at the beginning, I can’t remember).  I thought we had made a very good show but I genuinely thought fans would watch and think, “that’s a nice end to the Benidorm series”.  In fact I’m being modest, I thought I had written the best series yet and that, for me, was a reason to stop; to go out on a high.  I had no idea the public reaction would be so incredible and it became clear to me by the transmission of episode 5 that viewers wanted more.  So it was a combination of two things, ITV & Tiger Aspect were extremely keen on me being involved in a 5th series and  I just couldn’t say goodbye to these bizarre characters I created.

A lot of press have reported that the only reason I came back to be involved in another series of Benidorm was because of the possible involvement of Joan Collins.  After receiving a tweet from Jackie Collins suggesting her sister Joan Collins should be in the show I did reply saying “Joan Collins in Benidorm??!! I ain’t gonna let anyone else write that. Looks like I’m coming back”.  Why did I write that when I had already agreed my contract weeks before?  Well, apart from being giddy as a kipper (as my Nana used to say) that Jackie Collins tweeted me saying she & her sister love the show, I also knew it would be a funny & camp way of announcing my return.  As many of you know, I don’t court publicity for myself as an individual particularly (I do the odd radio interview for friends but have never accepted requests for TV interviews and I’ve only ever done one newspaper interview in 4 series of Benidorm – and that was never published) but writing tv shows is now the main bulk of my living so I do need to promote my business. Also, it goes without saying that Jackie’s new book just happens to be out this week, now that lady IS a publicity genius!

Has Joan Collins signed a contract to appear in Benidorm?  Of course not.  The scripts aren’t even written yet.  Would we like her to be in it?  Definitely! What many people tend to forget is Joan is a brilliant comedy actress.  But filming is a long way off and who knows what will happen between now and then.

As for me, I’m overjoyed to be back making up crazy stories for the Garveys et al.  I won’t write every episode this series but I’ll be there throughout the series to lend a hand, assisting our brilliant team including new writers, directors and my producer Ben Cavey and Exec Producer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise.  I reckon we’ll make Benidorm for as long as the fans of the show continue to love it.  The great thing is we are critic-proof, I’m told we have never had a good review in the press but I think it’s logical to take notice of 6 million viewers of the show rather than one lonely, embittered hack who is furious about their own failed career.

The people have spoken!  We are coming back! You should have known, what have I always said?… “this is just adios and not goodbye”.

P.S.

Thanks for all your messages of support via twitter what with a 5th series of Benidorm, a book and a new tv comedy I have a lot to get on with but I try to reply to as many messages as I can.

Competition time!

To celebrate the 4th series of Benidorm I have put together a great compeition which will see one lucky winner bag a whole host of Benidorm goodies.  A signed DVD Box Set, a signed script (very rare!), a series 4 cast photo and an EXCLUSIVE Benidorm cast & crew baseball cap (not available anywhere – unless you know know a member of the cast and crew and can wrestle it from them!)

The question for the competition is at the end of this blog, along with the email address to send your entry.  The winner will be drawn on the evening of episode 1, Friday 25th Feb, 2011.  Please, only one entry per person.

I’m really looking forward to series 4 although it is with mixed emotions because, for me, it is the end of my Benidorm journey.  I can’t begin to tell you what this show means to me, it has changed my life in so many ways.  Not least the amazing friends I have made along the way.  I won’t be writing any more episodes of Benidorm, for me the story of the Garveys and all of the other characters I created ends at episode 6 of series 4.

This is not to say the show won’t continue without me, that’s in the hands of ITV and Tiger Asepct.  Two companies I have loved working with and hopefully will again in the future on other projects.

The recent winning of The National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy was incredible; thank you so much for all of you who voted.  But all good things must come to an end and as hard as it is for me to say goodbye to these characters, who are all so close to my heart, the time is right.

COMPETITION

In series 3 Noreen serenaded her son, The Oracle, with a karaoke tune to celebrate his “coming out”.  That song was Y.M.C.A.  But what was the song Geoff sang on the karaoke in the same episode?  We need you to give us the name of the song and the original artist.

Please email your entry to    benidormtweets “at” yahoo.com

Please replace the “at” with the approriate character.

MAKE SURE THE SUBJECT IN YOUR EMAIL IS:  SERIES 4   or it will not go into the hat.

GOOD LUCK!

Derren x

Formspring Question

I’m on something on the internet called Formspring where people can ask you questions on any subject they like.  The reason I’m on this (not that I need one) is because I don’t do interviews in the press or on television so this is a place where supporters (and haters, although they don’t really seek me out there) can ask any questions relating to my work.  I got a question today which wouldn’t fit on the answer section of the website, so I thought I’d put it here.  Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Q: Does it annoy you that Benidorm mostly gets bad reviews from critics? Why do you think the critics dislike the show so much even though it’s extremely popular with the fans?

A: It doesn’t annoy me, it’s just one person’s opinion.  My TV show Benidorm is not everyone’s cup of tea, of course I’m fully aware of that.  The mother of one of the cast calls it, “that ghastly programme”.  Although when I heard that it really made me laugh.  The show is influenced heavily by the television shows and films I watched when I was growing up, Are You Being Served, Duty Free,  the Carry On films, etc.  I guess if you liked them you will probably like my show but then maybe not, the great thing is I don’t have to analyse it; my priority is to write  something I am proud of and make a living.  I don’t really speak about other comedy programmes I don’t “get”, if they are popular programmes it will probably just come across as sour grapes but I’ll give you a good example:  The Inbetweeners.  I was very late coming to The Inbetweeners for various reasons, in fact I only watched the first series dvd while in Benidorm this year.  Now, it has all the elements that I suppose should appeal to me, crude, lavatorial humour, swearing etc.  But it just didn’t make me laugh.  I think it made me laugh once during each episode.  But I don’t dismiss it as rubbish or bad writining or poor performances.  I suppose I just don’t relate to it.  I hated school and very rarely attended, I’m not a middle class hetrosexual, most of my friends at school (when I was there) were girls and not boys.  Are these the reasons The Inbetweeners doesn’t make me laugh?  I have absolutely no idea but unlike critics who gets frustrated and angry about Benidorm’s popularity because they don’t “get it”, I just feel I’m missing out.  If a comedy show is hugely popular but it doesn’t make me laugh I genuinely feel deprived, not furious.  But in saying that I don’t dwell on it, I move on and watch the programmes that do make me laugh.  Of course another answer to your question is the ITV debate.  Would I have watched a new half hour situation comedy on ITV1 starring Johnny Vegas (it didn’t actually “star” Johnny Vegas but that’s how a lot of reviewers billed it because they were too lazy to find out/inform their readers who the other actors were)?  No, almost definitely not.  But I would have tuned in after friends whose judgement I value had reccomended it to me.  A boss of a friend of mine says he won’t watch Benidorm because it is on ITV.  Not because of the subject matter, not because of the reviews, not because of who is in it but  just because he doesn’t watch ITV and never would.  I must also add at this point that he is a total and utter cunt (which I admit, may or may not be purely coincidental).

At the end of the day it’s all subjective isn’t it?  Or is it objective? I’ve no idea,  I have very little  education, a subject I’m sure my critics and I could finally agree on.

The Benidorm Christmas Special is on tonight, Boxing Day, 26th December 2010 at 9pm on ITV1.

http://www.formspring.me/derrenlitten

Competition time!

To celebrate The Benidorm Christmas Special I’m giving away a signed copy of series 3 DVD plus a personalised Benidorm Christmas Card!

Ten runner’s up will get a personalised Derren Litten Benidorm Christmas card.

So here is the question:  Why is Benidorm your favourite TV show?   The BEST answer wins.  Guest judge of the competition will be Mr Jake Canuso.  Maybe we can ask him to throw in a signed picture of himself too?

Please put BENI XMAS in the subject matter of your email or else it won’t count.   Competition closes 12pm 21st Decemeber 2010- My 40th birthday!!!

All entires to                    benidormtweets    @    yahoo      .com    (no spaces, these are to avoid spam).

Good luck and Merry Christmas!!!
Derren x

One Man Went To Blog

Derren found having one ear higher than the other a boon when filming.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry….  I KNOW I said this was gonna be a weekly blog, what can I say?  I’ve just been too damn busy.  And before you say it, no, not busy getting drunk but doing actual work.  I know, I was surprised too.

So what can I tell you about the last couple of months?  Well I certainly know what I CAN’T tell you (and there’s been QUITE a lot of that) but don’t worry, it will all go into the book.  (In case you haven’t heard me tweet about my book it is gonna be called The Benidorm Diaries – working title – and I’m gonna spill all the dirt about ALL the mad, crazy, embarrassing, hilarious, sad, unbelievable and outrageous things that have happened while writing and filming this series.   I’ve written bits and pieces already but I won’t write the full thing until the show ends.  It will be pretty full on and I imagine not everyone will be happy about it but I reckon if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing properly; you all know me by now!).

So, the most memorable thing that happened in the last few weeks was our traditional Sparks BBQ.  Every year the Spanish electricians from the crew put on an amazing BBQ, this year they really excelled themselves, the grounds of the production office looked incredible, all decked out in halloween set dressing complete with cobwebs, pumpkins, ghosts and clock work crawling spiders! The food was delicious, the sangria strong and the firework display at the end was awesome.  How these guys work a 12-13 hour day (and I mean REAL work, not sitting on their arses watching a monitor all day like me) then have the time to organise and put on all this is beyond me.  After the BBQ we screened the Benidorm Xmas Special on a big projector.  I’m not being immodest when I write this (because the show is not just my script, it’s EVERYONE pulling together, cast, crew, production, etc) but it was amazing.  I think this is the best episode of Benidorm we’ve ever made.  It’s very hard to tell and you may disagree when you see it but I doubt you’ll see anything as funny, entertaining, moving and CHRISTMASSY this holiday period.  Everyone did a great job and I’m so proud of them.

During the editing process of the Special the director, producer, myself and several other people have to view the show.  Because we were still in Benidorm and the show was being edited in the UK we have to either download episode parts or get the office to download it from an ftp site (no, I don’t rally know what that means either) and transfer it onto our laptop via a usb memory stick (this is starting to sound like an episode of Star Trek).  Well, I don’t know how much of this I’m allowed to tell you about this but a few weeks ago Tiger Aspect were informed that someone had obtained a copy of the Benidorm Christmas Special and they wanted money for it’s safe return.  I’ve heard of people being held to ransom but TV shows?  When this person was asked how they obtained the show they said they “found a USB stick with it on”.  ”We watched it, Su Pollard is in it”, they declared, as if this was cast iron proof they had the show.  The news of Su being in town had been in every newspaper in Benidorm plus she’d been on several TV shows in the UK talking about her appearance so that proved nothing.  But we had to take the threat seriously, not  only did we not want copies of the show on the internet the version of the show (if they had it) was nowhere near the final cut, we didn’t want the show not only being ruined but also being shown in an unfinished state.  Now as I say, I don’t think I’m allowed to go into details about this but an amount of money was agreed, a meeting was set up and a member of the production team and myself sat waiting for the call to tell us where the exchange was to take place.  We waited… and waited… and then….   Actually I think I’m gonna save this for my book; it’s too good to waste here!

So, the weeks roll on and more and more hilarious and brilliant guest stars come to this crazy town to visit us and appear in the show.  Banarama were here last week and as you’ll know if you follow @BenidormTweets on Twitter, they were fantastic.  I think there’s is my favourite episode of the 4th series.  Although in saying that we haven’t finished yet, we’ve still got another 3 weeks to go.  Speaking (or typing) of which I’d better go and rewrite a of joke for next week, this happens very rarely but the ITV lawyers have disallowed a Michael Jackson joke so I have to think of another one.  Oh well, it will all go in the book…

It Was The Best of Times, It Was The Worst of Times…

Hugh Sachs and Tony Maudsley filming Benidorm Series 4

So we’ve been filming now for about four weeks. We shot the Christmas Special in the first two weeks and now we are kind of doing one episode per fortnight.  I say ‘kind of’ because not all scenes can be completed sequentially and when they get moved about inevitably some get pushed into different weeks due to accessibility of locations, weather, guest stars availability etc.   Our 1st assistant director David Gillchrist does an incredible job fitting every scene into the schedule; I’ve no idea how he manages it.  It’s a bit like someone trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle while somebody keeps taking the pieces away.  Unfortunately I don’t exactly help as for the last 3 years I’ve always rolled up in Spain with the last episode missing; although I must say I’m glad I waited ’til I did to write the last instalment this year.  I only completely finished episode 6 last week but I must say, with a total lack of modesty, that it’s the best episode I’ve ever written.  Well, it’s certainly the funniest, let’s put it that way.

I’ve got to say the new characters in the show are working out brilliantly, mainly due to the amazing actors we have booked.  Tony Maudsley, Kathryn Drysdale, Adam Gillen, Selina Griffiths and Shelley Longworth; google them, you’ll probably know then from one show or another.  It was a difficult decision to change some of the regular cast, a decision met with some disapproval from a few fans of the show.  But I absolutely know it was the right decision; for this tv show to keep feeling fresh.  If we do a 5th series the same will happen again and it will all be for the best.

On a slightly different note I have some more unpleasant news.  A week ago last Friday my house in Spain was broken into and everything stolen.  Laptop, iPad, cameras, iPod, all electrical goods, even my suitcases.  At times this year has appeared to be one challenge after another, it sometimes has felt difficult to want to plough on with it all, especially when a few nights ago there was an other attempted break in, this time I was in the house.  To be absolutely honest I felt I was at breaking point and took a cab to Alicante airport, bought a ticket to London Gatwick and waited for the plane.  Luckily the flight was delayed by a couple of hours and in that time I decided to stay.  I’m so glad I did.  They say what doesn’t break you makes you stronger, after the year I’ve had so far I reckon I’m bordering on the invincible…

All’s Well That Starts Well

"I Don't Fancy Yours Much..."

So as we near the end of the Benidorm Christmas Special I am absolutely overjoyed.  I’ve never enjoyed filming as much as this before, everything feels right, all of the actors and crew seem happy  and even though we’ve been working in unbelievable heat (while pretending it’s Christmas!) nobody has complained.

Talking of the heat, I’ve been to many hot places over the years but nothing has ever compared to last week.  I’ve had sunstroke in Costa Rica and battered by the sun in Egypt but I think even it only reached 40 degrees.  Someone said last week, in the Altea Hills, it reached 47 degrees.  Now I don’t know if that’s true but it can’t have been far off. Of course many of us would think of the actors, having to perform on cue, remember lines and act cool (in more than one way!) but to see the crew humping equipment (ooof!), setting up lighting and generally running around non stop, well, I almost felt the urge to leave my air conditioned office and get someone to shake them by the hand on my behalf. Of course that was a joke… I’d never touch crew. Yes, that was another joke; I spend most of the time under a blanket watching the monitor wearing headphones as I watch and listen to what we are shooting with Ben our producer.  Anyway, the good news about all this is I must have lost at least a couple of pounds last week in sweat alone.

So after our first week of slog I decided to hold a little BBQ at my rented villa, it was an Xmas Special party as some of the main cast aren’t in the Special so they haven’t arrived in Spain yet.  We had the likes of Brian Murphy, Louie and Spence, Tim Healy (see pic above!) cavorting around the pool along with original cast members Siobhan Finneran, Crissy Rock, Sheila Reid, Oliver Stokes, Janine Dutvitski, Jake Canuso and a few others.

There’s so much more I want to tell you but I really think it would spoil the surprise.  This week we have a 70′s rock god and a 60′s legend filming with us.  We’ve already had Su Pollard (if you’ll pardon the expression), somehow John Henderson (our Xmas Special guest director) managed (with the hep of Sandy Johnson, regular director, with a 2nd unit) to shoot all of her scenes in one day (well, practically, she managed to squeeze in one more scene at 8am before she got on her flight to London at 11am), which was one of the things we were worried about.  Oh, we’ve also got a legendary 80′s band filming with us in a few weeks, they will be appearing at ‘Neptunes’ in episode 4.. or is it 5?  Oh it’s so confusing… a few parts have not been cast yet so we’re hoping to still have a few aces up our sleeve.  Obviously a lot of these guest stars will probably be revealed in the tabloids but I really hope they do us a favour and keep one or two of the big names a secret.  I know it’s probably wishful thinking but I love the idea of people watching the show, getting to a scene and saying “Oh my God! Look who it is!”.

Also, some rather disappointing news for me; I was due to play a (semi) regular part in this series, three episodes in all, a character I wrote for myself but unfortunately I just have too much work to do.  I’m writing a new series (not Benidorm) and for that to be finished by the end of the year along with my  role of associate producer, I just don’t have time to appear in the show.  Sorry to any fans (???!) of my acting work, rest assured I’ll pop up somewhere on the telly again at some point.

OK, better go now, we are filming with the brilliant Shaun Foster Conley today, so all you SFC fans are in for another treat in the Xmas Special (plus he also makes an appearance in series 4). Oh, and we also have brilliant Benidorm act Asa Elliott making a cameo appearance in the Special too, do any of you remember him in Stars In Your Eyes a few years ago?   Here he is in action!

Promise I won’t stay leave it as long until next blog.  Have a great week and stay COOL! (Although if you are in the UK I hear you haven’t really had a choice!)